


Change is the law of life

by FrankenBean



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-01-25 21:36:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18583060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrankenBean/pseuds/FrankenBean
Summary: For years now, Hawkmoth has been gone. Not defeated, just... gone. Ladybug and Cat Noir had been fighting him since they started their second to last year of collége, through Lycee and university. Together they faced akumas, heartbreak and each other's identities and eventually marriage and parenthood, all while Hawkmoth relentlessly pursued his goals and then, shortly after the birth of their third child Hugo, he stopped.My first ever dabble with fanfiction. I will post warnings for specific chapters and will edit the overall work warning if anything happens but as of yet, I haven't written anything that needs major flagging.





	1. Timeline

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter will be a few notes on the universe timeline and stuff that will help readers, the second chapter will be the start of the story.

~~~~ A NOTE ON THE SHOW'S WEIRD TIMELINE. AND BY NOTE I MEAN OVERLY THOUGHT OUT VENT~~~

A lot of people in the fandom have commented about how frustratingly little development some characters have had, but I personally think that is primarily down to them existing in a universe without a clear time setting. It's difficult to conceptualize how much development people should have if the passage of time isn't clear.

Because of the timeline of ML is a bit weird – like one year in real time or one season does not equal a year in world time, I had to come up with my own timeline at first, I tried using the original air year as a reference for the start: the French school year starts in early September, and the first ever episode of ML was aired in September 2015.  
However, Season 2 and 3 of ML mentions two specific events that happened in 2018, first in "Anansi" there is the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals fireworks celebrating France's Victory. Then there is "Backwarder" that specifies the Royal Wedding in England (2018).  
As such, I am going to put the timeline as Adrien and Marinette are 13-14 in the 2016/2017 school year. In that way, the origin episode “Stoneheart” takes place on the first day of school in September. Adrien turns 14 in October 2016, in “The Bubbler”. I'm going to say that Marinette turns 14 in March 2017 due to the fact that her birthday episode is placed after the Christmas special and specifies the days being warmer. This also ties into the idea of her being Ladybug because Ladybugs hatch in spring.  
I tend to think that the episodes are somewhat in a strange order, since they stay in the same school building, I would say that the latter half of season 2 and season 3 might be their last year of collége (14-15) just because it nicely shows the character growth and development over a year and “Christmaster” in episode 3 suggests a year since the last Christmas episode. 

I have seen a lot of confusion in the fandom about French school ages and how that compares to American and British school models, I did some research. Primary school in France is age 6-11, Middle school (collége) is 11-15 (this is where Marinette and Adrien are at in their second to last year of college), you then have High school (lycee) for ages 15-18. Interesting side notes: To apply to start at a school, you have to have applied by June the year before the school starts, so Adrien running away to school is genuinely pre-meditated. He would likely have had to forge his father's signature on documentation and such. Also interestingly, in the episode “The Pharoh” in the English translation, Alya says the textbook she found was “a tenth grade history textbook”, however, the 10th year of compulsory education would put them in their first year of high school (aged 15/16), however, I feel that this is more down to translation as "year 10" in the English school system is the start of GCSEs and students are 14 turning 15.

I felt it necessary to post all of this in a "chapter page" rather than notes because there will be time travel in this story and that gets complicated if there is no specified timeline.  
So for the purposes of clarity:  
Adrien's Mom disappears around December 2014 (In "A Christmas Special / Santa Claws" it is mentioned that it's been a year since his mother disappeared) I feel this gives a nice time frame of Adrien being happily homeschooled with his mother, he has his 13th birthday with her and then she disappears shortly after and Adrien gets lonelier and lonelier. it gives enough time for Gabriel to get more and more desperate and for Adrien to come to the realisation that he wants to go to normal school so that he isn't so lonely and to put that into motion.  
The Origins Episodes: Early September 2017 - M+A are both 13  
"The Bubbler" Episode: I'm going to say 31 October 2017 (Halloween isn't celebrated much in France and I kind of like the idea of the Black Cat being born on Halloween)  
"A Christmas Special / Santa Claws" episode: Christmas/December 2017 - Adrien is 14, Marinette is 13  
"Dark Cupid": 14th February 2018  
"Befana" episode: I'm going to say 20th of March 2018 - first day of Spring - Marinette turns 14.  
"Captain Hardrock": takes place in the Paris music festival in the last week of May 2018  
"Glaciator": Because it's about getting ice cream and it has a real summer vibe I'd say June 2018  
"Sapotis",and "Gorizilla": Summer holidays 2018  
"Anansi": specifies the FIFA World Cup fireworks celebrating France's win in mid-July 2018  
"Heroes' Day" episodes: The episode guide says Heroes day is also called the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade which is celebrated on the 3rd Thursday of November. If this is correct it would be the 21 November 2018 - this makes sense as it would be just after a year since Ladybug and Cat Noir first appeared. Adrien would be 15.  
"Christmaster" episode: December 2018  
Due to this, "Oblivio" probably occurs after Marinette's birthday (M+A are both 15). So I'm saying "Oblivio" is Spring term 2018 (Their last year of collége).

Hopefully all that makes sense. Effectively, the issue was that when the show started there was no timeline and more recent episodes have been dropping dates that only make sense if the origin story was September 2017 rather than 2015 when the show started. It means there isn't a huge spread of time that leaves us all wondering why the characters all act the same.

Also: For the purposes of this story I've decided Marinette has Hazel/dark grey eyes (a bit like Kristen Kreuk) because I studied science for a number of years and there is almost no way for her to have Bluebell eyes. Having studied culture and cultural identities and such at university I think it might actually make Marinette's character more interesting if she maybe started out trying to hide her ancestry, after all there have been a number of studies about French culture and the slight problem with xenophobia and racism towards immigrants. I figure people who have known Marinette for years like Chloe and Nino would know her ancestry and know her eye colour but I think maybe she wore coloured contacts that were blue and then as she begins to be more accepting of herself as a whole, she eventually stops wearing them but Tikki keeps Ladybug's eyes blue for the sake of her identity. I've known a lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds who have felt anxiety about their ethnic appearances, particularly with eyes that are shades of brown because they think it is "dull" or "ugly". I think it would make her as a character more multifaceted if we saw her grow to accept and loving herself and her culture. Maybe she decides to take out the contact lenses after she reads Adrien's Valentine's card, realising that the person she likes doesn't even know her true eye colour. It would be in keeping with the development of her character of standing for honesty and self-acceptance for her to take this step, without interupting the canon narrative.


	2. A slow and sunny morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien POV. We don't often get many fanfics from his POV. Just a fairly short one of lightness and joy before the main action begins.
> 
> In case anyone is wondering, my perspective on Gabriel is very much deluded abusive asshole who thinks giving his kid stuff is somehow good parenting and that giving him stuff to try and get his son interested in what he is interested in is in some way "bonding". It's difficult to try and write supervillains and superheroes with a sense of realism but my general view is he has a compulsive controlling disorder that may have been pre-existing before the situation with his wife but effectively the supervillainy stems from the incorrect notion that if he controls everything else in his life he can fix the thing that changed that he cannot get over.

~~~ 31 January 2018 ~~~

It was looking to be a fairly regular day for Adrien. He had just finished his early morning photo shoot and was on his way to school, trying to cram in as much of his breakfast as he could eat in the car ride over. Due to the photo shoot, he hadn't been able to eat much more than a few bites of fruit that morning due to concerns of bloating and Plagg had made things infinitely worse by gloatingly munching cheese whenever he had had the chance to be out and about in the dressing room. Adrien HATED camembert. Hated the putrid smell, disliked the taste, disliked the repetitive love odes Plagg sang to the cheese on a daily basis. But on mornings like this one, where his stomach would growl like a wild animal, even camembert looked like heaven to Adrien's stomach.

He quietly entered his first class of the day, throwing a hasty wave at Miss Bustier who was midway through the lesson. She nodded at him and smiled, passing him a folder of notes from the classes he had missed that morning as he sat down, getting his tablet and textbook out. 

It was a beautiful day with bright sunshine streaming in and a gentle wind coming from the windows. On the breeze wafted the gentle scent of freshly baked bread and... chocolate chip cookies. Adrien smiled and snuck a glance backward. Marinette always smelled like her bakery home, it was a soft, warm comforting kind of smell that always set him at ease. 

Ever since the incident where she had admitted to being in love with him as Chat Noir and the tour of the bakery that revealed her room full of pictures of him, he had paid a bit more attention to her, this shy girl, this everyday Ladybug. 

A part of him hoped it was her, his Lady. After all she and Ladybug were so very similar, both standing up for what was right despite whatever they were facing, both were kind and smart and beautiful and creative. A part of him desperately hoped that maybe Ladybug was so determined to hide her identity in order to protect her wonderful family, the friends she cared so very deeply about, rather than due to a lack of trust in him. 

His heart belonged absolutely to Ladybug, he had told Marinette and her family as much. If Marinette was Ladybug, at least she would know his heart was faithfully and fully hers, that he wasn't the hopeless flirt she seemed to think of him as. 

He knew that Ladybug was someone outside of the mask, someone with hopes and dreams and fears. Maybe she dreamed of being a designer, maybe she scribbled design ideas in her notebook instead of paying attention in French Literature class; maybe she smelled like freshly baked bread and honey shampoo.  
But maybe she didn't. And he wouldn't ever want to hurt this girl, his dear friend especially not because of hoping she was someone she maybe wasn't, she deserved better than that. He also wasn't ready to give up hope that maybe once Hawkmoth was defeated that Ladybug would want to get to know him. It wasn't so much a stubborn belief that she would fall for him, merely the hope that when they weren't fighting for the lives of Paris every day that she might have the opportunity to decide whether or not she wanted to try. He would respect her wishes, whatever they were. 

Alya broke him from his musings by nudging his chair with her foot, he looked back and accepted the neatly written copy of notes she had taken from the beginning of the current class.  
He nodded his thanks with a smile and caught Marinettes eye, giving her a little wave. She blushed scarlet and nearly fell out of her chair reaching for something in her satchel. She waited until the teacher had turned to the board before slipping him a brown paper bag that smelled heavenly. A quick peek revealed two croissants, a pain au chocolate, and some cheese bread. 

While Marinette was often bringing treats for her friends, she seemed to have developed an almost supernatural 6th sense about which days he had horrifically early morning photoshoots and never failed to bring him something from the bakery on those days. 

It had become a tradition with them in the past two months, she would bring him food and he would stealthily take some pictures of the items at fashion shoots and shows. He had even started dutifully trying to note down anything he overheard his father or other designers saying about techniques and directions a season's lines were going in.  
He didn't understand half of it, but his father seemed pleased that he seemed to be taking an interest; and Adrien delighted in watching Marinette light up as she read through his scribbled notes, somehow decoding what it all meant, animatedly talking about how she had been working on a technique or pattern for ages and how some note or guideline made so much sense. Gone would be the stutter and the blush as she lost herself in sketches and jotted doodles. She would talk passionately about her craft while Adrien nodded along and did his best to follow what she was saying, simply happy to be able to have his friend happy. It seemed to be helping her talk to him a bit more in general too. 

A cat that got the cream sort of grin slipped onto his face as he packed away the bakery treats. Marinette shot him a curious and suspicious look, narrowing her hazel-grey eyes at him in a way that made his heart stutter with the familiarity of the look. He had something to give her that was possibly as good if not better than the bagged treats for once.

After weeks of Gabriel growing more and more suspicious of his son's sudden interest in fashion, Adrien had finally told him that while he was interested in understanding the family business and what his father did, his questions were mostly for his aspiring designer friend. Gabriel remembered the Derby hat well, the craftsmanship had been very good for someone so young and any friend that had seemingly helped Adrien find an interest in something his father could talk to him about seemed like a good thing in Gabriel's book. Gabriel had promptly dug around in his desk drawer for a small handbook. It was the same that he assigned all interns and junior designers of his company but this was his copy. Somewhat battered with use and dog eared, it had been his technical Bible throughout his first years of design school. He had long since outgrown any need for it, but if this might help in some small to show his son that he did care, he would happily give it up. He scribbled a note onto a large post-it and put it on the last page: 

_“Miss Dupain-Cheng, Adrien has told me about your interest in becoming a designer. This book served me well in starting my design journey, I hope it does the same for you. G. A.”_

Adrien looked up at the class clock. He knew Marinette well enough now to know she would blow a gasket when she saw the book so instead of answering her inquiring look, he simply tapped his index finger against his nose and nodded to the clock before turning back to the front to take notes.

Marinette huffed behind him. Alya snickered. Nino gave him a strange look. Adrien was happy, today was a good day.

And then a distant scream pierced the quiet of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am one of the random few people who don't mind constructive criticism in the comments, however, as a note: please be aware that not everyone does appreciate criticism in the comments and please also note that someone may have already made the same criticisms. As such, Each of my Chapters will have a comment from me saying "reply with constructive criticism here" it keeps everything nice and tidy and means people can just look at the first comment to see if there is anything that hasn't been said. Please also note that when I say constructive criticism I mean it should highlight good elements and highlight things that can be improved with specific examples. If I am being a numpty and my dyspraxia messed up a spelling that's fine. just try and tell me the paragraph and the error so I can fix it, but if you feel like something isn't well put or something more subjective try and be specific. Like, say "the paragraphing or dialogue didn't make the situation clear or something. I'm putting this in the notes because I have seen some pretty mean critiques on this site and considering this is a site for people to enjoy reading and sharing work, it really shouldn't be a place for negativity. Help people grow if they ask for help growing. If not, you are just being mean.


	3. A change in normal

Marinette jerked her face towards the window, split seconds after Adrien's had. She fought off a strange feeling in her gut. A feeling of reassurance and of familiarity at her side.

“Not Now!” she chastised herself mentally. 

But that grin he had been wearing less than a minute prior, the way she automatically began scrutinising for some joke or trap and how he moved in reaction to the shouting from down in the street so quickly it was like he heard it before anyone else did. In her periphery, she could see his eyes were roving the skyline, not with the same fear everyone else did, the frantic search to find the point to run away from. For a split second, as he took in a steadying breath in the same moment she did, he looked... calm... contemplative... Like he was taking in the details.

She shook herself. NOT NOW.

“Everyone, stay calm!” Miss Bustier was shouting. She was directing everyone to get to the door in some semblance of order. 

There had been some attempts at building Akuma shelters around the city, but they were mainly used by frightened tourists. Akumas often loved to come across large pockets of civilians to turn into minions. It had been a tough call for Chat and Ladybug to make but they had eventually held a press conference with the mayor to request that residents of Paris should either try and go home or stay put where they were if the building seemed out of the path of the Akuma. 

It meant relying on the citizens of Paris to use their own judgement about their own safety. After a year and a half of this madness, the citizens of Paris had begun to trust in its superheroes to put things back to rights at the end of the day. That didn't help the nightmares that were beginning to become more prevalent for Marinette though. Just in the last 6 months she had seen schools with carefree young students get demolished on top of the trusting occupants by an Akuma, restored with no trauma of the event, hospitals filled with patients dying because some person who worked for the city's electrical grid getting pissy about not getting a raise and becoming akumatised and shutting down the city's power.  
It was the type of horror that should really be disclosed to a top-quality therapist rather than getting bottled up by a teenage girl. But Tikki helped, and when it all got a bit too much, Chat was there pulling her into a hug on a quiet rooftop and reminding her that they fixed it. That they won and would continue winning and that they were safe. Marinette thanked God for Chat. Whether she was stressed or tired or just plain done with it all, he was there with a witty quip or a stable assessment of facts, whatever she needed. But he also kept dying, he was also a regular fixture in her nightmares. She supposed that was one of the many reasons she never gave Chat a shot romantically, he was wonderful and kind and exceptionally handsome if she allowed herself to think about it, but at least in the heat of battle, she knew Adrien and her parents and even Alya who took more risks than necessary for a scoop, were safe. They were contained in a nice protective bubble that wasn't her best friend bleeding out on the pavement or vanishing before her eyes on a near-monthly occurrence.

“I need to head home, my parents will worry,” Marinette told her teacher who nodded, keeping track of the students she knew lived too far away. 

Marinette slipped out of the class, catching the faintest glimpse of Alya, already almost out of the school, phone in hand. That girl was going to give Marinette premature grey hairs.

Hurrying through the courtyard and slipping out of the main doors, Marinette took a look around. Nothing was on fire, there were a few distant panicked screams but it didn't look like this was a big damage type of Akuma, which could be good... unless it meant it was one of those creating minions and psychological manipulation types that always made her skin crawl.

She scurried toward home, waiting until she was sure that none of the other students leaving the school saw her before scurrying into an ally.

“Tikki, Spots On!”

~

Ladybug swung up and away into the Paris skyline, running and yoyoing her way deftly among the chimneys and shingles.

The evident lack of chaos that seemed to be occurring was beginning to grate on her nerves. The screams and occasional flashes of blue light that she could hear and see weren't too far away, barely a kilometre from the school, and about 500 meters from where she currently stood.

The area was full of museums. That always set off alarm bells. Not always, but often, museums meant Akumas that were academics, art snobs or visionaries. Not the sort of thing to rush into or arrive at separately to Chat.

Ladybug flicked open her yoyo phone and called him, hoping against hope that he hadn't already dived in.

He answered on the second ring. “My Lady?” he chirped.

“Chat, the Akuma seems to be around the Beaubourg area, 4th arrondissement. It's too quiet so I'm guessing it's another so-called visionary snob academic type. I think we should scope it out properly before going in. Can you meet me at Saint Jacques tower?”

“Will do Bugaboo, be there in a minute” he hung up.

Ladybug ran and jumped her way to the tower. With the quiet ones, she always prefered to not announce her presence and put them at a disadvantage. Louder Akumas tended to announce themselves and their desires which made locating the akumatised object that much easier. The quiet ones tended to get on with things, very occasionally they might get caught up and begin monologuing but it was always better to try and observe them when they weren't also trying to fight.

Chat landed behind her at the tower just after she got there.

“What's the betting it's some senior citizen who got angry when they were confronted by some splotches on a canvas and had some art student try to convince them it was “art”? It is Wednesday after all, the busiest day for senior tours. I think I saw a bunch of old people running away from the Pompidou Centre on my way over” Chat quipped with a smirk

Ladybug tried rather unsuccessfully to suppress her laugh. “I suppose their powers come from a magic walking stick that when they shake it at “those darn young'uns” it creates minions who listen attentively to stories about the good old days and who destroy all things modern in exchange for butterscotch, huh Minou?

Chat Noir extended his baton slightly and wafted it while putting on a rickety old man voice. “Darn kids! With their art splotches and magic jewellery!” He extended his baton fully down to the street and held out his hand to Ladybug with a flourishing half bow. “After you, my Lady!”

Ladybug smiled and took his hand, smirking and dramatically putting her free hand to her brow as she stepped to the edge of the roof beside him. “And they say chivalry is dead.”

This was what they did. Chat always knew when an Akuma was giving her slight anxiety and always managed to make her laugh before they went in wherever possible. It refocused her.

Chat smiled softly as he held onto her and let her grab onto his shoulders before leveraging them across the street. His skill set was built around close combat and stealth while hers was long-distance and tactics. They had discovered fairly early on that if they wanted the advantage of surprise they would need to work together to get closer, the yoyo was the opposite of subtle, with its high arcs and the whizz clink zip of the catch, hold, release.

As they got closer to the centre of the commotion, they were able to peer down into the street below. stood in the centre of the street stood a man, not some gigantesque Akuma like they sometimes faced but a man of regular height. He had wings that shimmered a multi-chrome gold-purple and held a large pole weapon, it looked like something out of a museum, almost scythe-like.  
The Akuma seemed to be monologuing or at least ranting to himself since he didn't have much of an audience. There was none of the usual booming voice, the usual demand for the handover of the miraculi. All in all, it was rather strange.  
Even stranger was how, as they watched, he pointed the weapon, at a building near him. A blast of blue light hit the entire thing and incased it. But when the light faded the building seemed completely unharmed. It was exactly the same from what she could tell, no explosions, nothing. The occupants of the building didn't seem mind-controlled or harmed either, they all began running for it with the usual panicked screaming of an attack.

Ladybug and Chat Noir shared a look, this was weird.

"Chat, do you think you can get close enough to hear what he's saying?" she asked

Chat nodded, "Can do, maybe it's mind control like all those people are rushing off to tell their greatest secrets to their most hated enemies or something?"

Ladybug squinted down at the crowds. "They don't normally scream about Akumas like that with mind control though."

Chat nodded again, "True, okay Bug, I'll get in close enough to hear and then come back. I don't have a good feeling about this one."

"Neither do I." whispered Ladybug, her eyes never leaving the scene, watching, analysing for little hints and details.

Chat hopped silently from the roof they were perched on, a soundless scamper from ledge to shingles to slate, always keeping low, with as many chimneys and electrical rods and satellite dishes between him and the Akuma as possible before eventually coming to a stop on one of the rooves closest to where the Akuma was. Ladybug could just see his cat ears twitching, picking up what was being said.

He seemed to leap up suddenly and Ladybug tensed and glanced back down to the square, the Akuma had swivelled on the spot and before Ladybug could so much as reach for her yoyo, her vision was engulfed in blue light.

The last thing she heard was Chat calling her name.


	4. Chronos

Chat Noir landed on the roof and let his momentum carry him, he scooped his Lady up over his shoulder and kept running. He had no idea what this Akuma was capable of, only that he had to get them away. It had been a mistake splitting up so early in the game.

Her screaming and thrashing about broke him from his thoughts of how panic-stricken she had looked before the light had hit her. He held on tighter, trying to keep her still so that she would not fall, leaping from a roof to a nearby balcony and then up to a roof that Ladybug and Chat had found and developed into a safe space with emergency food. There were plenty of chimneys around blocking most of the view but you could see the Notre Dame and a few other major sights while it was blocked from the view of most threats. Chat worried his lip while trying to regain his balance, a task which would be a lot easier if she would stop trying to punch him in the kidneys.

He checked the surroundings, it seemed like for now the Akuma was too concerned with his own business to pursue them, for which he was very thankful. He carefully lowered a still-shrieking Ladybug from his shoulder, trying to keep a firm grip on her. It was nearly impossible as she was kicking him and flailing her arms, doing everything in her power to get away from him.

"Bug? What's wrong, talk to me? It's just me Chat. It's okay, I got you away." he pleaded with her, gripping her forearms even as she kicked at his shins.

What truly broke him was how absolutely terrified of him she looked, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. This was nothing he had ever seen before, this wasn't his strong, confident Ladybug. Even in their worst situations, when she was doubting herself and her abilities, even when things looked fairly hopeless, his Ladybug was always trying to clear her head, trying to focus. This was pure panic the likes of which he had never seen on her, the terror in her eyes was far more like a prey animal seeing its death coming for it. Her eyes were wide, her pupils blown so wide he could barely see the blue and she kept twisting and wriggling, looking everywhere for some kind of escape. Her breath coming in short ragged gasps and her eyes filling with tears as she futilely pulled against his grip on her arms. He didn't want to hurt her, holding too tight but was worried about what would happen if he let go. 

"Bug? Bugaboo? Ladybug? Shhh, it's okay, it's okay, I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you. It's okay I promise, just breathe, tell me what's wrong." He was getting desperate. Her knees were buckling and he gently lowered her to the floor of the balcony. Blowing his fringe out of his eyes as he shifted her tiny wrists into one hand while trying to reach for upper arm to give some kind of reassuring pat. 

As he reached, however, she jerked her head as far away from his hand as possible... it was like she was trying to protect her earings from him.

He stared at her. "My Lady, it's ME. I'm not going to touch your earings." To his surprise, his words seemed to break through to her. she was staring right back at him, except instead of recognition she seemed confused, her eyes going from panic to analytical, examining every element of his face. "Bug?" he asked hopefully.

She opened her mouth as though to say something, closed it again to squint at him before finally saying "You're blond... How are you now blond?"

It was such a strange thing to say that Chat found a tense near-hysterical giggle bubble up his throat. "I've always been blond, Ladybug." He scanned her face which was still examining his until she seemed to find some magical answer in his face. She gasped and looked around at the city, before looking back at him, dawning realisation lighting up her features.

"Oh shit." she said.

Chat was at a loss, he had never heard his Lady swear before. He scanned her face urgently, it certainly looked like her. "What's going on Ladybug?"

She gently pulled her arms from his hands, rubbing the circulation back into her wrists as she slowed her breathing and sat back on her haunches looking carefully from him to the surrounds and back to him. "What year is it?" she all but whispered.

Chat blanched and gulped down but answered. "2018." he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

"And there's an Akuma, out there, isn't there? It got me with its powers didn't it?" She asked, returning his gaze.

Chat felt like his blood had frozen in his veins but he nodded, tried to talk but was met with a mouth so dry he had to swallow a few times. Ladybug was thinking and pensive but it wasn't her normal thinking face, it was bizarre. 

"Okay," she said, locking her eyes with his. "This is really weird but I need you to not freak out. I'm not... your Ladybug."

"What?" Chat asked eloquently.

Ladybug ran her hands through the hair at the nape of her neck and puffed her cheeks and Chat sort of got it. This wasn't his Ladybug, his Ladybug pulled on her pigtails or pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I'm from the year 2043." she said. "I think the Akuma swaps things from this time with things from 25 years in the future."

"All the old people..." muttered Chat to himself. Ladybug arched an eyebrow and he elaborated. "On our way over here... my Ladybug and I saw a lot of old people running away from buildings that had been hit... We joked that it must be Pensioner's day... but if they are being swapped... Wait, why aren't you my Ladybug just 25 years older?"

Ladybug puffed the bangs of her fringe out of her eyes and looked pensive. "You guys retired... like 10 years ago, 2032 or thereabouts, I was really little but Hawkmoth disappeared, it wasn't until recently that Paris needed heroes again. Hawkmoth doesn't know Ladybug's identity so the powers just swap the Ladybug from now for the Ladybug of then..." her voice trailed off and her eyes grew wide in terror. "Oh god, you CAN'T get hit this time!"

"What? Why?" asked Chat "I mean I never plan to get hit but surely you would just get your Chat Noir?"

Ladybug bit her lip and began to wring one of her hands with the other. "I... I don't really have my own Chat Noir." She said quietly. "The guardian sensed grave darkness coming and sent out the merculouses to myself and the person meant to be Chat Noir, but... It was a trap they somehow managed to corrupt it somehow, we think with one of Myura's feathers. They... whoever they are corrupted the ring itself, and they did it in such a way that there was no loud, obnoxious costume or anything. Chat Noir just looked like how you would expect a Chat Noir to look... Except when I found him that first day and tried to talk to him, he tried to kill me, has been since."

Chat looked horrified. "That's why you were screaming and kicking, you thought he got you?"

Ladybug nodded. "It's been two weeks since I first got my Miraculous and I still haven't been able to fix it." Her voice sounded hollow and hopeless. "He's so much bigger and stronger than I am and he'll pop up and start hurting people or destroying things and I can just barely run damage control. I tank the hits or try to tire him out until he uses Cataclysm and then he'll leave and I can use a miraculous cure to fix the physical damage he's done to the city but the people are terrified and no cure fixes that terror."

She met his eyes then. "I probably shouldn't say this, time-space paradoxes and all that, but I grew up with Plagg. He was kind of my best friend... kind of my only friend. I don't know how to fix everything. I don't know how to save Plagg, or the boy who is being puppetted by the corruption. And even if I do fix it, everyone will hate him, no one will trust him, he'll probably want to turn in his Miraculous which means I will too since otherwise, it isn't balanced..." she seemed to cave in on herself, bringing her knees as close to her as possible.

"How... how did you grow up with Plagg?" Chat asked, edging to sit beside her and rubbing little circles on her shoulders. He felt like he already knew the answer but he had to ask anyway.

A shuddering breath and a sniffle came from the girl "I don't know if I'm allowed to say." sad eyes peered at him before she pulled her hands down her face again. "My name is Emma..." she said "Emma Agreste."

Chat had been braced for it but even still he felt the air in his lungs compress as a grin split his face. "I have a daughter," he said. It was a very strange situation but if he had a daughter it meant he had a family, a family he knew he would pour every ounce of love into.

Emma flashed him a dry, conspiratorial grin. "Don't tell Maman... when... you know... the time comes. She 's known what she wanted to name her children since she was thirteen, would hate to steal her thunder."

A deep belly laugh rolled through Chat. He squashed down every inclination to visualise his own Ladybug in the images of the future that flashed through his mind but it was difficult.

"Wait... you said "children."" he said delightedly squinting at her for more tips about his future.

Emma gave an eye roll and gave his shoulder a shove. "Spoilers. I've already said too much."

Chat laughed too until he sobered on a rather more disconcerting thought. His daughter had been fighting tooth and nail against her own partner for the past two weeks. He knew from his own superhero life the physical and emotional impact it took out of you, knew that if anyone at home payed any attention to him they would be able to notice how he hid a limp after a bad battle. He always played it off as fencing injuries if anyone did notice, mostly his friends. But he refused to believe he wouldn't notice his own daughter going through the wringer.

"Emma." he said quietly, "How did I not see, I mean you must be exhausted, sneaking out at different hours, missing school... I'm not... I'm not like my father am I?"

Emma scanned his face quickly before realising what he was meaning. "Oh! No. Nope, nothing like that. It's only been two weeks and you've been away. It was important for you and Maman to go away for a bit of a holiday. Everything's fine. Uncle Nino and Aunt Alya have been looking after us, you're due back Sunday but flights in and out of Paris are being reduced and delayed due to the whole... Chat thing. Just... Please don't tell Maman I'm the new Ladybug. She'll freak and make me pass on the job. Things got bad with Hawkmoth when I was young, it seemed like he was going to win until he disappeared, she won't want me to do it."

Chat scratched at the back of his head. "This is a lot of stuff you are wanting me to not tell your mother."

Emma bit her lip. "Just til you're back. If you tell her before you go then I won't have the Miraculous and she'll just not go and she needs to. If you tell her while you are away then she will panic and fret and it won't help anything because she won't be able to get back in time. If you get back Sunday and I still haven't been able to fix it and you really feel like she needs to know then tell her. But... I have to do this."

Chat met her gaze, she had the same steely resolve he always felt about the prospect of having his own Miraculous taken away. He let off a sigh. "Okay, but if I get back I am grabbing the first Miraculous I can find and going to kick that Cat's ass." he joked, resolving to make a note of as much detail as possible.

Emma had been smiling slightly, breathing deeply. "I don't think I can detransform while here. I don't know if it's current or future Tikki Im bonded to right now but this isn't my body so it might get very very messy if I did."

"We'll be careful then." Said Chat.

"Pa- uh Chat... You're good at physics, right?"

Chat suppressed the giddy happiness that was brought by how his daughter seemed to call him "Papa" in the future, rather than the more formal "Père".

"Um, yeah I guess. Why?"

"If I'm here, and Ladybug is in my body in my time, then depending on which theory of time is correct, either she won't experience anything at all. As in if we clear the Akuma, I use Miraculous cure and go back to the moment I disappeared while she comes back here with her last memory being of getting hit by the Akuma here, which is fine, I guess. But what if instead, all these minutes we've been here talking, all the minutes between now and when we switch back, she is stuck there experiencing my time. She'll have no idea she can't trust Chat Noir. She'll go right up to him, completely trusting."

"Oh god, you're right."

"I think... We need some back-up."

~ ~ ~

Alya raced along the streets, phone in hand, the Akuma blocks away.

One of the throng of people running towards her, away from the chaos ahead was shouting and waving, but as Alya got closer she heard "Mrs Lahiffe?!" and she turned around, expecting to see Nino's mother somewhere behind her when she was pulled suddenly upwards. An unbreakable wire thread had wrapped itself snuggly but not painfully around her waist and she soon found herself deposited onto a roof before the Heroes of Paris. "Oh my god." she squealed, raising her phone to film but Chat put his hand over the camera lens.

"Hi, Alya. Sorry about this but we need you to not film this. It's important." He smiled tightly, flicking his eyes over to Ladybug who looked a bit fidgety. "I'll go wait over there while you two talk?" Ladybug nodded.

Alya stopped filming immediately, locking her phone and putting it away before looking excitedly at Ladybug. "What's the sitch? Do you need Re-"

"No." Interrupted Ladybug. "Sorry, I... Ummm okay, this is going to sound crazy but I know you roll with crazy so here goes: The Akuma switches everything the beam of light touches with itself from 25 years in the future and Ladybug got hit."

Ladybug's eyes were wide and focussed directly on Alya. "I told Chat Noir I needed him to go away so I could talk to you without him learning too much about the future but it was mostly actually because I can't remember at what point in time he learns that you're Rena Rouge but I'm pretty sure he isn't supposed to know, and I need your help but it's really kind of dangerous but it's sort of the best plan we have at the moment in case things go wrong."

Alya looked at this Ladybug. It was definitely not normal Ladybug, this one spewed information almost as quickly as Marinette did when she got panicky. But Ladybug needed her, both of them, she supposed. "How can I help," she asked.

Ladybug seemed to deflate with a relieved breath. "We don't know if the people who get zapped and appear 25 years in the future experience time passing or if when we fix everything they will just appear back here with their last memory of getting zapped because no one really knows how time properly works. But if they do experience time, then there are a lot of people popping into a time where things are different and they won't know what to avoid. We can't send you back as Rena Rouge because we don't know how that will swap out, but I know where you, Alya will be that day, still running updates on the Ladyblog, just with a bit more caution. Basically, we need someone who knows what's going on who is recognisable both by people from this time and 25 years from now..."

Alya let the words soak in. "You need me to get hit by the Akuma?"   
Ladybug looked pale like she could not believe she was asking someone to put themselves in danger like this. "I can't tell you what's happening over there in that time, but when I left, Chat Noir was corrupted by what we think is either an Akuma or one of Myura's feathers and if Ladybug is stuck there, existing in time, she's going to go right for him and he'll try to kill her and she won't want to fight him and he won't be HER Chat Noir and everything will be confusing and I was pretty beat up so she'll be battered and bruised already. I just... there's no time to lose if she is existing in time and if she isn't then nothing bad happens. Chat says he's sure we can fix this Akuma no problem soon enough but..."

"Okay," said Alya simply, pulling out a hair scrunchy and tying her hair back. "I'll do it. Let's go. Where will you... or... Ladybug I guess, be?"

Ladybug called Chat back over. "I was in the lower struts of the Eifel Tower. I'm wearing black over my suit because the red shows up too quickly."

Alya nodded. "What's the plan?" Surprisingly Ladybug turned to look at Chat for an answer.

Chat met her gaze and gave a quick re-assuring smile. "Okay, Bug, you're going to drop Alya down in the street near the Akuma. Don't get seen. Alya, I need you to make as much noise as possible. I overheard him talking about how no one is forward-thinking enough, seemed to think things will be much better in the future so make loud shouts about respecting traditional values or something and that's sure to get his attention." Alya smirked at that, she had seen enough of Chat's witty quips to know exactly how well this would work.  
"Then, Chat continued, the second you've been hit, Ladybug will grab older you and get her away while I cause a distraction. He seems to be focused on his own goals, turning the city into what he assumes is some sort of futuristic utopia with no specific aim, We'll need to move fast, so bug, get back as soon as you can."

They all nodded and got to work.

~ ~ ~

**Author's Note:**

> I am one of the random few people who don't mind constructive criticism in the comments, however, as a note: please be aware that not everyone does appreciate criticism in the comments and please also note that someone may have already made the same criticisms. As such, Each of my Chapters will have a comment from me saying "reply with constructive criticism here" it keeps everything nice and tidy and means people can just look at the first comment to see if there is anything that hasn't been said. Please also note that when I say constructive criticism I mean it should highlight good elements and highlight things that can be improved with specific examples. If I am being a numpty and my dyspraxia messed up a spelling that's fine. just try and tell me the paragraph and the error so I can fix it, but if you feel like something isn't well put or something more subjective try and be specific. Like, say "the paragraphing or dialogue didn't make the situation clear or something. I'm putting this in the notes because I have seen some pretty mean critiques on this site and considering this is a site for people to enjoy reading and sharing work, it really shouldn't be a place for negativity. Help people grow if they ask for help growing. If not, you are just being mean.


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